The FCC has responded to this letter with an even more devastating statement as follows:

“To drive economic growth, job creation, and to promote competition, the FCC has been focused on freeing up spectrum for mobile broadband. This includes our efforts to remove regulatory barriers that preclude the use of spectrum for mobile services. To advance these goals, the Commission runs open processes – the success of which relies on the active, timely, and full participation of all stakeholders.

“LightSquared’s proposal to provide ground-based mobile service offered the potential to unleash new spectrum for mobile broadband and enhance competition. The Commission clearly stated from the outset that harmful interference to GPS would not be permitted. This is why the Conditional Waiver Order issued by the Commission’s International Bureau prohibited LightSquared from beginning commercial operations unless harmful interference issues were resolved.

“NTIA, the federal agency that coordinates spectrum uses for the military and other federal government entities, has now concluded that there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time. Consequently, the Commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared. The International Bureau of the Commission is proposing to (1) vacate the Conditional Waiver Order, and (2) suspend indefinitely LightSquared’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component authority to an extent consistent with the NTIA letter. A Public Notice seeking comment on NTIA’s conclusions and on these proposals will be released tomorrow.

“This proceeding has revealed challenges to maximizing the opportunities of mobile broadband for our economy. In particular, it has revealed challenges to removing regulatory barriers on spectrum that restrict use of that spectrum for mobile broadband. This includes receivers that pick up signals from spectrum uses in neighboring bands. There are very substantial costs to our economy and to consumers of preventing the use of this and other spectrum for mobile broadband. Congress, the FCC, other federal agencies, and private sector stakeholders must work together in a concerted effort to reduce regulatory barriers and free up spectrum for mobile broadband. Part of this effort should address receiver performance to help ensure the most efficient use of all spectrum to drive our economy and best serve American consumers.”

Unsurprisingly, it appears that Chairman Genachowski wanted to get this issue off his plate before testifying to Congress on Thursday. It now seems the next steps will be a Public Notice, which may request comment on the terms of reference for a future receiver/interference standards proceeding, followed by a proceeding stretching well beyond the November 2012 election. Even if that resulted in a favorable ruling, the NTIA letter highlights that “lower 10″ operations would not be phased in for many years (2020 or beyond), which as I’ve indicated previously makes it extremely unlikely that it would be worthwhile preserving the current Cooperation Agreement with Inmarsat.

Indeed, with Inmarsat poised to claim another $56.25M from LightSquared early next week, and the 90 day bankruptcy window for challenging the $40M paid to Inmarsat in November expiring on Thursday this week, a decision may need to be reached on how to proceed very soon. With LightSquared set to run out of money in the near future, the company must now consider whether to file for bankruptcy and preserve its resources for the inevitable litigation fights, or continue pretending that all of these problems can be overcome while its cash drains away.

It seems that even if LightSquared does continue to pretend that all is well (and remember that LightSquared’s relentlessly optimistic/deluded CEO told the FT only a few days ago that he was confident the FCC would “do the right thing” and approve the network), then its debtholders will certainly assert that the FCC’s action means a MAC has occurred under the first lien debt covenants. However, it remains unclear whether that event would occur upon release of the FCC’s Public Notice tomorrow, or only when a final Order is issued, which may not take place for several months.

[...] however, doubts LightSquared will have the financial wherewithal to fight much longer. He wrote in his blog: With LightSquared set to run out of money in the near future, the company must now consider [...]

[...] well past the November U.S. presidential election, analyst Tim Farrar of TMF Associates said in a blog post. Even then, it’s unlikely any network would be allowed in LightSquared’s spectrum until [...]

[...] however, doubts LightSquared will have the financial wherewithal to fight much longer. He wrote in his blog: With LightSquared set to run out of money in the near future, the company must now consider [...]

[...] course, its hard to imagine the FCC order doing anything other than confirming their February proposal to withdraw LightSquared’s waiver and ATC authorization (indeed people like Gen. Shelton are [...]